Document rx5kobqbXYBjo8Y1QoRw9vQa

D e pa r t me n t o f In d u st r ia l H yg ien e HARVARD UNIVERSITY SCH OOL OF PUBLIC H EALTH 55 S h a t t u c\ Street `Boston 15, ^ M a ssa chu setts January 2, 1947 D r. R obert A. Kehoe K ettering Laboratory of Applied Physiology .University of C incinnati C o lleg e of Medicinei. Eden Avenue C in c in n a ti, Ohio , , D ear Bob* , Answering your l e t t e r about p o s sib le lead p o isoning from c u ttin g up s h i p s , I am s e n d in g y o u r l e t t e r t o Mr. Edward J . T r a c y , D i r e c t o r of S h i p y ard Labor R e la tio n s , U. S. M aritime Commission, W ashington, D. C. and he p r o b a b ly w i l l w r i t e you d i r e c t . I am t o o much o u t o f a l l t h i s now t o be of much h e l p . I remember t h e e x p e r im e n ts we d id h e r e a t my l a b i n c u t t i n g up s t e e l p l a t e s w ith sta n d a rd ty p e of le a d p a in tin g on them . R e s u lts showed t h a t e x t r e m e l y h ig h l e a d c o n c e n t r a t i o n s w ere p o s s i b l e i n t h e a i r b r e a t h e d by men m anipulating oxy-acetylene to rc h e s . There is no doubt a t a l l th a t proceedures which would be used today'w ould be a lot. more l i k e l y to cause lead p o isoning th a n those used a f te r th e la s t war in dism antling b a ttle s h ip s . Like you, I remember v iv id ly trie u n fo rtu n ate s e r ie s of lead poisoning c a s e s found i n v a rio u s Navy y a r d s . Modern p r a c t i c e i n yielding and c u t t i n g i s a lo t fa ste r than th at used tw enty-five years ago. I believe th at the ship y ard do in g most of t h i s work i n t h e E a s t i s p ro b a b ly Bethlehem S t e e l Company, Sparrows P o i n t , M aryland. T h is may be t h e same s h ip y a r d t h a t you v i s i t e d w ith me d u r i n g t h e w a r . I t i s r u n by t h e same e x e c u t i v e s and t h e m e d ic a l s t a f f i s u n d er D r. F lo y d S h a f f e r . 'You w i l l rem em ber, I know, our f a i l u r e t o g e t any r e a l h e lp from Mr. Jack W i l l i s , t h e n and now i n ch arg e of th e Bethlehem yard. , PDf ? ccs Mr. E. J . T racy S' ' jr s 9 P h ilip Drinker KS 0015231